Railway rail



Aug. 21, 1934- D, P. WOLHAUPTER Filed OCT.. 19, 1932 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented ug. 21, 1934 y 1,970,588" nmwnr mmf f Y, David P, Wolhauptex',4 Wasbngtomhiufilf signor to v'.l'lie Rail Joint'omany, Ne-.vv York;` "N, Y., a corporation of New Yori;

implication octoberio, me, sensing. 638,610

s claims", (ci. zas-125), r Y

relates to an improvement in the lconventional type railway T-rail and lprimarily has for its object a novel and advantageous distribution of metal, particularly inf-the rail head, providing increased strengthand Wearing life for the rail, 4while at the same time preserving its conventional form and shape so that any type of rail joint, whether of the head contact or headfree type, may be availablev for use therewith'.

Accordinglyia primary-object eil-the invention is to provide a novel rail head vformation which produces a section of the same weight perfynrd but having an increased girder depth, thereby to' afford greater stiffness in the section, and also permitting an increase in the amount of metal available for Wear, -thus materially increasing the wearing area and therefore the -wearing Vlife'in theA rail head before the safe limit o! production and total area is reached.

Av further object of l the vinvention is'to pro vide-a-rail head `formation which -rnateria'llyr in creases the surface area thereof kwherelw abetter section is provided Vfrom'a. cooling standpoint; l thus insuring uniform and satisfactory cooling ot the' ail headr'with the resultant better metal tex- This invention ture.' I Y v- `Furthermore, it is well known that entirely aside from the comparatively short life of railway rails due to the wearing ldownof the top wearing sur face, early deterioration and loss of life in rails, particularly* when subject to heavy tramo conditions', isduein considerable measure tothe material loss of metal from the inner facesfof thevrail heads Afrom 'wearing contact with the 435 wheelilanges of the cars and locomotives; Especia'lly is this true 'of the high rails on curves, with respect to which the `shearing oli of longslivers of metal fromthe inner faces of the heads thereof is `acommon occurrence. Breaking away of a 4'0 sliver at one point producesa l.ta/ning action tending to break it away at adjacent pointe,v and the strength and life of :the rail is correspondingly and rapidly reduced. Moreover, vthe formationy of elongated slivers on the inner l.faces of the rail heads, affording `shoulders upon which the anges of locomotive and car Wheels may ride, frequently is the direct cause of derailings and `wrecks. .Aocordingly, another important object of the invention' is to Vprovide a'rail embodying :afdesign such that the rapid loss` of metal due tofthe'for mation, breaking and tearing away of slivers from' the inner face of the head thereof is greatlrre# duced, and such that in any event the possibility of the formation of elongatedslivers is--el1m1- nated.l J

a `rail of thev headl're'e'A Another important object of the invention is to provide a rail embodying a structural design suchv that the strength ofthe rail is increased as comparedwithv present types-of rails of the ksame 1 v` With `the "foregoing and other objectsv in YView,` which `will become more Ifully Vapparer'it as the nature of the invention is better 'unrlers'toorLv `the same consists'injthe novel construction and in thenovelrcornbination and arrangement of features fas will lbe hereinafter more fully described illustrated inthe accompanying drawings and deflncdin"the4 appended claims;v

In `the drawings,fy wherein are illustrated cer` tain practical'fembodiments ofthe invention l' isf-aside elevation vof a' portion'ofa rail "of standard 'type :constructed in accordance wlththe invention. j j

Figure 2 is a horizontal section on the line l.Jl--Z of,F1g.1. Y -f .Figure Bis across lsection trated in Figs. 1 and 2; ,V i 'Figure 4 is a' view'slmilar "to `Fig. 3 illustrating type'constructed in wcc'ordance with-the invention. f 4i'ii'gureff,A 5, Gand 'l area series of study-views illustrative :of vthe"adventages 'andjscope ofthe invention asapplied to a conventionalf13o-R.A E. raiiwayT-raii.' i l `v Figures 8'9 `and`1f0 are a series ofjstudy-views illustrating advantages and-scope of the inven tion ztnzlledtofa4 hea'dfree' 13G-R. E. type railthrougn-theran inuslRcfoilg" to'the'dlawgs in detail, it will be observed `tiret-"therail; vdesignated generally as fR, is illustrated in Figs; y1 to 3` as being of the Well knowri'standard typerend in Fi` g."-4` as beingof the v veliy v"lie'axlfree ftype; including-fin each in'- sta'nce ahead 10, e''web lland a4 base 12 inacQ cordanc'e with commen practice'. j lf- 4:The invention infitsipii'naryf-aspe'ct,l asabove indicated; 1consistsinfs'e' modifyingv fthe structural formation of the head: of a railway rail-as to'fpro-i vide for an elimination Vof metal thereinv that may be ntiiized'fdr metalfsavin'g', but which preferably is an incident to accomplishing' several desirable" without interfering iwith the use i Yof :the rail*'wlthieltlier'a'headcontact type as indicated the dotted lines-in-Fig. 5; or headfretype of rail joint, as indicatedbydotted lines in Figo. Principallyamong thse' desirable results Vto be accomplished is a transferring of the metal from the sides 'offthe rail head to either the top surface of the rali head". o'r intoy the bodytor. web ofthe rail toincrease'tthefgirder heightvof the section,

1' applied to the latter type of rail.

2 thereby improving the moment of inertia; also to provide a uted construction for the' sides of the rail head which prevents the formation of and breaking off of long` slivers of metal due to wheel iiange wear, and also to materially increase the surface area of the rail head to greatly improve the rate of cooling of the metal,` thusinsuring a more homogeneous texture Vof metal.. To accomplish these various practical and important results the invention contemplates in its specific aspect the novel head construction which may be obtained by providing the sides of the rail the bottom corners/'of the head and preferably rail head with a multiplicity of recesses orcavie` ties representing the removal, or elimination off metal at these locations,v the" eliminated metal'.

preferably being caused to distribute itself as'an additional thickness to the top'wearing surface of the rail head, thereby increasing the. life vof the wearing surface, or into the web partv ofthe' rail, in either of which cases the girder strength or moment of inertia of the rail sectionis greatly improved. i f Y. The recesses or cavities in the'sides of the rail head, representing elimination or reducements of metal, are designated bythe reference numeral 13 in Figs. 1, 3, 5, 6 and 'I of the drawings, and by the reference numeral 13,` in Figs. 4,3, 9 and 10 of the drawings. Itvwill beobserved that .the recesses or cavities necessarily alternate with metal `r-ib portions 14 which represent normal wall portions of the rail head, as it is understood that the present invention contemplates a construc-- tion wherein-the normal width or thickness of the rail head is maintained atmthe locations14, and between these normal wall portions of the rail head the metal is displaced, producingpthe subnormal cavities or recesses 13Min the T -rail and 13a in the headfree rail when the inventionis Furthermore, it will be understoodV that the alternating reducements ordepressions 13 in the rail head sides are preferably .provided at both sidesof the rail head in order that the lrail may have a uniform or substantially uniform area of metal through its-length and also preferably the alternating depressions 13 and vrib portions `A111 are staggered or disaligned 'transversely of the rail as clearly illustrated in Fig.l 2 ofthe drawings, thereby providing4 for a uniformincreased cooling surfaceforthe railhead., y l

Although the depressionsnl?? may: be ,formed in any preferred manner they preferably areformed by a rollaor rolls of suitable. vcontour inthe nal roll pass ofthe mill, andas is apparent, said. de-

pressions' mayiextend either throughout or only partially 4throughout Ithefheight ofthe rail head as may bey desired, but preferably in the T- rail head/these depressions orfreducementsextend Tinto or around thebottom cornerswof the ;.rail

headto. positively prevent the development of continuous slivers of metal at these locations due to wheel :flange wear, as above explained, with the consequentlossof substantial amounts of metalV` fromthe-rail as occurs in vthe-ordinary 'Il-railhead generally in use.-V

.'lln'Figs.v 1to 3 the invention is-illustrated as embodied in a- T-rail of well vknown standard type characterized by a head which Yhas flat fishing surfaces at the underside thereof, andwhich type of rail can be spliced at. the joints byfrail joint bars of either the head-contact orwellknown headfree type. lInra T-railzof this vtype the de-V pressions 13. preferably extend from the under.-

side. 'of Ithe yrailhead upwardly through and tained by reason of the depressions 13, and since around the bottom corners of the rail head to a line spaced suitably below the top of the head, as best illustrated in Fig. 3 of the drawings, while as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, the depressions and the intervening rib portions preferably are of equal or substantially equal width, although they may be of any relative width desired.

In Fig', 4 theinvention is illustrated as embodied in a'rail of the well known headfree type characterized by a head, the lower portion of which is of inverted, truncated pyramidical shape in cross section. In a rail of this type the delower portion of the head and, as in the case Yof the'standard rail illustrated in Figs. 1 to 3, terminate at their upper ends below the top of the rail'.` ,z

Obviously a considerable saving of metal is obthis metal is taken from those portions of the rail head where it is'of little strength value it follows that a rail constructed in accordance with the invention and although having actually less metal inthe head than either `a standard or headfree yrail of the same size, is, nevertheless, substantially equallyv as strong as a corresponding standard or head free rail. On the other hand, if the ,metal which is saved by reason of the provisions-ofthe depressions 13 is added to the top of the railhead, thereby increasing the height of the girder, the result is va rail having a greater moment-of inertiav and greater strength than a rail of either the standard or headfree type of the 'same weight, at the same time increasing the wearing life of the rai By reason of the depressions 13 serving to producea series of the intervening rib portions 14 spaced apart longitudinally of the rail head, it follows that theformation of elongated slivers along the side of the rail head cannot occur, since the greatestv length of any sliverrcannot exceed the-width of the individual raised portions. The-possibility of breaking-,or tearing away of elongatedstrips of `metal from the rail head 129 thus is effectively eliminated with consequent increased-'life of the rail.` Moreover, since elongated slivers cannot form on the side of the presentrail and since short slivers do not tend so'readily as long slivers to cause the wheels of 125 carsand locomotives to ride upwardly and off of 'the rail due to` contact of the wheel flanges with said slivers, the possibility of derailings due to this cause is correspondingly reduced as compared with'rails of Vsuchstructural design that 130 the formation of elongated slivers along the sides of their heads is permitted. f By way of'further illustrating the advantages andscopeof th'epresent invention reference is now made to the seriesofstudy views 5, 6 and 'I 135 of the: drawings. In Fig. 5 of the drawings there is shown the conventionalY 130 R. E. T-rail having the vcavity vor recessed formation at the sides -of the rail head and extending around Vthe bottom corners thereof and into the bottom head 140 fishing surfaces of the rail head.` By-reason of the alternatio'ns of'these cavities, recesses or depressions' with the intervening ribs 14 the use of the Vrail with any type of rail joint is not interferedlwith. The head-contact types of joint bars takeshing bearing at the undersides of the rail heads against the rib portions 14 even where these rib portions extend around into the head fishing surface jas' shown in .thev drawings. Also, the headfree type of rail joint bars are not inter-. 150

fered with because this type of rail joint takes a loading engagement in the head fillets of the rail. In Fig. 5 of the drawings the invention is represented as producing the cavities or reducements with resultant saving of metal, but in Fig. 6 the metal eliminated from the cavities or reducements 13 is shown transferred to the top of the rail head as indicated at X, thereby materially in creasing the Wearing life of the rail head surface and also increasing the moment of inertia or girder strength of the structure. In Fig. 7 of the drawings the metal eliminated by the cavities orrecesses in the sides of the rail head is shown transferred to the web of the rail as indicated at Y, with the result of more substantially increasing the moment of inertia due to the greater depth provided for the girder section.

In the application of the invention to the headfree type of rail, which is only useful with the headfree type of rail joint and cannot use a head-contact type of rail joint, the invention possesses the advantage shown in Fig. 8 of the drawings of contributing a material saving in weight of metal in the rail. In Fig. 9 of the drawings the metal removed from the sides of a headfree rail is shown transferred to the top of the rail head as indicated at X, with the resultant improvement in wearing life and in its moment of inertia or girder strength, and in Fig. 10 of the drawings the eliminated metal is shown transferred to the web of the rail as indicated at Y with a still greater improvement in its moment of inertia or girder strength.

Without further description it is thought that the features and advantages of the invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and it will of course be understood that changes in the form, proportion and minor details of construction may be resorted to, without departing from the spirit of the invention and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:-

1. A railway rail inclusive of a head having side recesses therein spaced apart longitudinally of the rail and terminating at their upper ends below the top of the rail head.

2. A railway rail inclusive of a head having a bottom portion of inverted truncated pyramidical section, one side at least of said bottom portion having spaced apart recesses formed therein.

3. A railway rail inclusive of a head having a bottom portion of inverted truncated pyramidical section, one side at least of said bottom portion being composed throughout the length of the rail of a series of alternate recesses and ribs.

DAVID P. WOLHAUPTER. 

